A lovey-dovey bondage session?!

“…I won’t give up because of
this! Even if countless hardships stand in my way, someday, I will
make Onii-chan look only at me! A-After all, I love Onii-chan the
most in the entire world!!!”

“O-Ohh…!”

I watched the climax of the story
unfold with excitement and tension. Unconsciously, I even made a fist
with my hand, leaning forward.

“Onii-chan! Let’s go take a bath
together!”

It was the very first important scene,
where after being enveloped by jealousy induced because of a
misunderstanding, the little sister barges in while her older brother
is taking a bath. It was perfectly represented, with both stellar
animation and a great job done by voice actors.

“T-This is amazing, Suzuka. Every
single aspect of it is of such high quality! There’s no way that
this won’t be a godly adaption!”

“……………I see.”

I shook the shoulders of Suzuka, who
was sitting next to me. She didn’t show any interest in responding.
But as her number one fan, I was too focused on the anime to pay any
attention to her. In the booth across from us, behind a wall of
soundproof glass, Minazuki-san had finished the recording. She
noticed our gazes upon her as she turned around. And with a bright
smile, she made a V sign with her fingers.

It was a few days after Suzuka had
brought her friends over. We were on the way to a certain indoor
studio in order to watch the recording for Suzuka’s anime. Of
course, this anime was none other than the adaption of “The story
about a little sister who loves her big brother way too much to
cope.” In the fall of last year, planning for the anime had
started, and it was decided that the voice recording would start this
year in spring.

“Sensei Sensei! How was Sakura’s
acting?!”

We were inside the breakroom, and
Minazuki-san came running towards us as soon as her job had finished
for the day. Just a short while ago, she had won the role for the
little sister heroine Yuuka. The happiness she had showed at that
time couldn’t be expressed in words, and even now, she looked like
she was having the time of her life during recording.

“It was very well done. I’m really
glad that I came here to watch.”

“Yaaay! Sakura couldn’t be happier
to hear that from Sensei!”

When I responded with my honest
feelings, Minazuki-san jumped up and down in joy.

…Minazuki-san really is amazing. Her
acting for Yuuka was on point, and I could clearly see why she was
such a massively popular voice actress. As for the anime itself, the
art style was wonderful, the acting of the other voice actors was
also amazing, and when I once more realized just how high the quality
of this adaption was…

“Fufufu, like this, Sakura can call
Sensei ‘Onii-chan’ as much as she wants!” With a teasing smile,
Minazuki-san shoved her face into mine.

“Uuu… Well, that was the promise…”
I replied with a bitter smile.

Minazuki-san loves the fictional Yuuka
so much that she started seeing herself as her, thinking of me as the
older brother, and even started calling me ‘Onii-chan’.

…Well, although I would really like
her to not do that so much, she begged me for the right to call me
that if she got the role of Yuuka—

…And of course, she got the role.

It feels really weird to be called
‘Onii-chan’ by her, not to mention that Suzuka’s mood seems to
get worse every time she does it, but a promise is a promise.

I knew just how hard Minazuki-san
worked to arrive at where she was now, and I couldn’t exactly
refuse her after seeing her splendid acting. So I had mentally
prepared myself ahead of time. However…

“Fufu, Sakura was just joking. She
will call Sensei ‘Sensei’ just like always.”

“…Eh? W-Why? You were so adamant
about it.”

Minazuki-san startled me when she said
that, and I couldn’t hide my surprise.

“Hmm… Sakura still doesn’t
believe that she has become Sensei’s little sister. That’s why
she will take Yuuka-chan’s role and study even more about what it
means to be a little sister. And as for that, she will call Sensei
‘Onii-chan’ when the time comes.”

Hearing her response, I could only let
out an uncertain “O-Okay…?” in response.

…I don’t really know what she means
by that, but it sounds like something she’d say, anyway…

That being said, her motivation was so
strong that I once more felt great respect for what she was doing.

“So instead!”

“Eh? H-Hey?!”

While I was in the middle of being
emotionally moved, Minazuki-san suddenly clung to my arm. Her
well-endowed breasts were pressing directly against it, and I started
panicking from the sudden assault of softness.

“W-What are you doing?!”

“In order to become a real little
sister, Sakura wants some direct acting guidance!”

…A-Acting guidance?! What’s that
supposed to mean?!

“Since Sensei is the original
creator, you have to tell Sakura where her acting is still lacking!
For example, in that one hugging scene, Sakura still feels like she’s
lacking something. What else should Sakura do at times like these?”

While saying that, she was pressing her
weapons of mass destruction against my arm, throwing my mind
off-kilter.

“E-E-E-E-E-Even if you ask me that!
M-Minazuki-san’s acting was spot-on, so there was nothing I could
complain about…!”

“That’s not true! There must be
countless things that Sakura was lacking in. Don’t hold back!
Please colour Sakura however you see fit! …Ah, but if it’s
something perverted, then Sakura doesn’t have any experience
either….”

Why would she suddenly arrive at that
conclusion?! Uuu… since it’s Minazuki-san, I don’t know if
she’s serious of if she’s just teasing me. Whatever it is, I have
to do something, fast. If not, I’ll have to face Suzuka’s
wrath—

Or at least, that’s what I thought,
but…

“………”

“………………S-Suzuka-san?”

“…For some reason, Suzuka-chan
doesn’t really seem to be into it today.”

With Minazuki-san still clinging to me,
I glanced at Suzuka. When I did, I found her just staring up at the
sky, spacing out. Normally, she would scold me and say something like
“W-What are you doing Onii-chan!” whenever something like this
happened.

“Sensei, Sensei, what happened with
Suzuka-chan?”

To be honest, that’s what I wanted to
know.

…For some reason, Suzuka has been
acting really weird these past few days. It’s like she’s constantly
spacing out, or she’s always lost in thought… Or I think that she
is, but out of the blue, she suddenly glares at me with tears in her
eyes. I’m always wondering if I’ve done something, but nothing
comes to mind. At first I thought that she was mad because of the
incident when her friends came over to play, but she doesn’t look
mad at all… Rather, she looks depressed, but when I ask her about
it, I get shot down immediately with an “It’s nothing.”

“I even don’t know myself. This is
the first time I’ve seen her like this…”

“Hmmm, is she worried about
something? Suzuka-chan, Suzuka-chan, what happened?”

Even when Minazuki-san called out to
her, there was no response. At first, Minazuki-san stared at Suzuka,
confused, but she suddenly started grinning as she turned to look at
me.

“Sakura doesn’t know what’s
wrong, but this is definitely a chance!”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Whatever Sakura does to Sensei,
Suzuka won’t get mad! So with that being said, Sakura is asking for
Sensei’s guidance on love acting!”

“You suddenly became this
calculating?!”

“Sakura will do anything in order to
become Sensei’s real little sister!”

Saying that with a grin, she hugged me
with her entire body.

This is pretty bad, isn’t it?! No
matter how much I struggled and complained, she just ignored it with
and said “This is for Sakura’s acting after all~”. On the
contrary, maybe because she was still tense from the recording
session, she was even more energetic and only clung to me even more
tightly.

“……?”

That moment, as if she had finally
noticed the rukus that Minazuki-san and I were making, Suzuka looked
at us in realization. She followed this up with a sigh and returned
to her senses.

“P-P-P-P-P-Please let go of Onii-chan
already!”

She suddenly jumped between me and
Minazuki-san.

“Kya!” Minazuki-san let out a
shriek.

But, judging from her face, you could
clearly tell that she was just acting. Suzuka for her part didn’t
look like she was acting at all, and spread her arms out while
standing in front of me, as if she wanted to protect me.

“W-W-What… are you doing…?!”

Though her actions were the same as
always, she seemed different.

…How do I say it? It’s like she’s
overreacting, or she’s being oversensitive.

“H-Hey, what’s wrong with you
today, Suzuka?” I asked

“Huh?!”

When I called out to her, Suzuka seemed
to have snapped out of it.

“I-I’m sorry. I took it a bit too
far…” She said, taking a deep breath.

…But she immediately turned around to
glare at me.

“O-Onii-chan, why are you letting her
do this to you?” She suddenly asked.

That just now was Minazuki-san acting
on her own volition as usual, and even though she should’ve
understood that, she still directed her anger at me.

“You know, I tried my best to
resist…”

“I-It wasn’t nearly enough! You
should at least dislocate your shoulder to escape from her grasp!”

“Do you think I’m a ninja?! As
if I could do that!”

“…Ah? D-Don’t tell me, did you
enjoy what Minazuki-san did?”

“Wha! Is that so, Sensei!?”

“No, it’s not!!!”

You’ve got the wrong idea! That’s
90% not true! And the other 10% is because I’m a boy, so forgive me
for that much!

“W-Wait a moment…? If that’s the
case, then does that mean that Sakura-san is Onii-chan’s?!”

…Mhm? W-What? Why are you suddenly
glaring at me?

“That’s right! Sakura is Sensei’s
future little sister!”

“Again, don’t just bring up more
unnecessary information!”

“…I-It seems like I was wrong…
Haaaaah~”

And Suzuka for her part was weirdly
satisfied… What is this, really…?

“S-Sakura-san, don’t just cling to
Onii-chan like that.”

“Ehhh? But Sensei will be Sakura’s
future Onii-chan, so isn’t it fine?”

“D-Don’t just say that so lightly!
And there won’t be any future like that!”

“Ah, but who will be the older sister
then?”

“You’re still talking about that?!
And don’t just move the conversation in weird directions! And
Sakura is older, so we don’t even have to think about that!”

“Anyways, in order to improve
Sakura’s acting, she has to cling to Sensei like that!”

“Are you not listening to me?! And if
you really need it, I will give you whatever acting guidance you
need! After all, I am Onii-chan’s little sister!”

“………”

Somehow, they had started fighting
within a matter of seconds…

Trying to avoid becoming a casualty, I
escaped their grasp and headed towards the back of the break room,
leaving them alone.

“Really…” I gazed at the two of
them as I left.

…All this excitement that I had for
the anime is completely gone now…

To be honest, there’s something that
I’m wondering about. Though Suzuka’s weird attitude is also a
concern of mine right now, there’s something even more concerning
that I’m constantly wracking my brain about. This was of course the
‘rumour’ that I had heard about from Nikaido-san. The rumour that
Suzuka and I had a weird relationship—she said that such a rumour
was going around the school. Of course, I knew very well why that
rumour had come into existence, but I couldn’t just let it sit like
that. As for how to get rid of it, that was what I was trying to
figure out this past while.

…But, ahhh for crying out loud, why
didn’t I realize it sooner…? I should’ve known that it would
come to this. If siblings started acting lovey-dovey at school, it
would be natural for other people to get the wrong idea. But we can’t
tell them about the research… and they might not believe us even if
we did tell them… Ahhh, what should I do?!

I don’t care what people think about
me. They can go ahead and bully me or whatever they want. But I don’t
want Suzuka to suffer. As her older brother, I would never forgive
myself if anything like that happened.

“But… you know.”

I wasn’t able to come up with a
strategy, and could only sigh in defeat.

“Oh, what might be wrong, my comrade?
Are you not satisfied with the adaptation so far?”

In that moment, someone sat down in the
seat in front of me. When I looked up to see who it was, I saw the
executive director of the anime, and the older brother of
Minazuki-san: Sakurada Itsuki-san.

“Ah, no, that’s not it. On the
contrary, the anime has been wonderful so far. I can’t wait to see
the finished product.”

When I responded with that,
Sakurada-san pushed up his glasses and said “I’m happy to hear
that. I’m giving it my best for my comrade’s novel, after all.”
He seemed satisfied. “Sakura-tan’s acting was on point, and she
was completely engrossed in it. When she said ‘Onii-chan’, I was
just…! I have to get a recording of that for myself!”

“What is this executive director even
doing?!” I retorted, while Sakurada-san continued speaking like he
was in a trance.

“No no, as a fellow older brother,
you should understand, right? This feeling of wanting to record
everything your cute little sister does or says…! So how about we
closely watch our respective little sisters while they’re talking
over there!” Sakurada-san said as he took out his smartphone. He
began to film Minazuki-san.

…T-This is person is the same as
ever. Minazuki-san really has it rough… Really, he’s such a
bother. As a totally normal older brother, I cannot understand his
feelings at all. Not one bit. Yeah.

“…What’s with that difficult
expression on your face?”

“Eh?”

Before I had realized it, Sakurada-san
was suddenly looking at me with a serious expression.

“Don’t just ‘Eh?’ me. You
showed me that expression, so of course I’d ask you about it. If
it’s not about the anime, then maybe you’re worried about
something else?”

After he said that with such a serious
face, I swallowed my words. It’s true that this problem might be
too big for me, but I can’t just tell somebody else—

…Wait a second? Asking someone else
for advice… I had never thought of doing that. If you can’t come
up with an answer on your own, it’s completely rational to ask
someone else. But, the people around me who I could ask for
advice—Mai, Double Peace-sensei, and Shinozaki-san’s faces
suddenly came to mind. But no matter how much I try to reconcile it,
I shouldn’t ask them… At least not for this problem.

…But what about Sakurada-san? He also
has a little sister, and he’s in the same position as me. Not to
mention that he’s fairly close to me age-wise, so he might actually
be able to help me…

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Ah, well, actually…”

Having thought that far, my mouth just
opened on its own and I told him about the problem. After all, I was
sick of having to think about everything on my own.

“Hmm… a rumour about you and your
little sister at your school…”

“W-Well, we are also to blame for it…
But there’s absolutely no truth to this rumour. I don’t really
care about myself, but I have to do something for Suzuka…”

After I explained the situation,
Sakurada-san was lost in thought with a serious expression on his
face.

“I see, I’ve grasped the basic
problem behind your worries.”

“Ohh, so you understand!”

Hearing him say this, I really felt
relieved.

…H-He might really be able to help
me! Though he has his weird points, he still is a grown-up man, after
all!

—Or that’s what I thought.

“…W-What’s up with that? I’m so
envious!!!”

“…………Huh?”

W-What did he just say?

“You’re going to the same school as
your little sister, and a rumour is going around about your
relationship with your little sister?! Of course I would be envious
about that! …Shit, just what I would expect from the greatest
little-sister-lover Towano Chikai…!”

“Um…”

“Ahhh, I also want rumours to spread
about me and Sakura-tan…! My respect for you has grown tenfold!”

“N-No, that’s not the problem
here…”

“Ohh, right! The part about it that
you’re worried about? …Um, you want to know how to make the
rumour even more intense?!”

“No! The complete opposite! Did you
even listen to me?!”

“There’s absolutely no need for you
to ask me for advice! You just have to do it like in your own novel,
that’s all! I don’t see any reason to be worried at all!”

“Ah, I see, you didn’t listen at
all! For Christ’s sake!”

…What have I been thinking? Asking
this person for advice about anything little-sister-related is a
total waste of time…!

What a sad reality. I have basically no
one who I can ask for advice.

“Oh? Why do you suddenly look so
down? Ahh, you don’t have to hold back. As someone who also
idolizes his little sister, let’s go down the forbidden path
together!”

I didn’t have any energy left to
respond to the heated-up Sakurada-san. But, while he was busy patting
me on the shoulder with a grin…

“…What are you announcing in such a
loud voice?”

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiya!?”

Luckily, Sakura-san appeared behind his
back, with a dark aura around her. Of course, her expression was that
of a forced smile. She was as scary as always.

“Going full idiot-mode in a place
like this…!”

“Y-Y-Y-You’re wrong, Sakura-tan!
I-I was just saying that for the sake of my comrade here…!”

“Don’t sully Sensei’s name! He
actually is a worthy older brother! Will you stop pestering him
already?!”

“B-But! Sakura-tan!!!”

“…What are you doing here with
Director-san?”

In the meantime, Suzuka also arrived
with an exhausted expression on her face. In response, I could only
wordlessly shake my head. I couldn’t tell her, and I didn’t want
to tell her either.

In the end, I still didn’t know what
to do, and the only thing left to cheer me up was the thought that
the anime adaptation was going well so far.

Part 2:

“There’s a lot to consider, I see…
T-There’s no deeper meaning to it, but I would like the same phone
as Onii-chan. H-He can just teach me if I don’t understand anything
that way…”

After leaving the recording studio
behind us, we didn’t head home immediately, but took a detour to a
smartphone shop. The reason: Suzuka wanted to get a new phone.

Saying that it would be a waste to get
rid of a working phone, Suzuka has been using the same old flip phone
for years. Lately, though, the battery has been running out too
quickly, so I used that opportunity to convince her to get a new one.

That’s why we had taken this detour
on the way home, but…

“Onii-chan, are you listening?”

“Eh? Ah, yeah, sorry. What was that?”

While Suzuka was busy looking around
the store, all I could think about was the rumour that had been going
around the school.

“Really, pull yourself together a bit
more, Onii-chan. I just said that I wanted the same model of phone as
Onii-chan…!”

“Ahh, that’s right… Let’s see,
since mine is already pretty old too, getting the exact same model
would be kind of a waste. How about this one? It’s the same make,
but it’s got the latest upgrades.”

“I-I see… But that’s pretty
expensive. Aside from making calls and writing emails, there’s aren’t
many other uses for them, so this older model that’s on sale should
suffice.”

“…With your royalties, shouldn’t
you be able to afford the latest model without a problem…?”

“I won’t waste any of it.”

Suzuka spat out these words like they
were a knife at my neck, and I could only muster a scared “Y-Yes!”
in response.

As always, my little sister, who’s
responsible for all of our household finances, really pays attention
to this sort of thing. While Suzuka went back to checking out the
many phones on display, I once more focused my mind on the rumour.

…It doesn’t matter how much I wrack
my head about it, I won’t just come up with an ingenious idea out
of the blue…

If only I could use that lie that I’d
told Nikaido-san about having a girl that I like—or even better, a
girlfriend, then I could blow away those rumours with ease. But I
don’t have a girlfriend like that, and I don’t think that I could
keep up the act, even if I asked someone else for help. I do have Mai
as a potential candidate… but considering how air-headed she is,
she would probably be found out immediately. And now that I think
about it, even if I had a girlfriend, people might call me out and
say that I’m cheating on my girlfriend with my little sister. I
guess that I have no way of getting rid of this rumour by myself.

While I was starting to fall into
despair, I realized something.

…If I can’t make it disappear
completely right now, then I can just try to tone down the rumour as
best as I can. After all, a rumour only stays active for as long as
it’s interesting. If I stop the flow of information and stop adding
fuel to the fire, then people will forget about it faster.

“…That’s right, that’s what I
have to do.” I nodded to myself when I found my solution.

I just have to get rid of the reason
behind the rumour immediately. And speaking of that—

Click

“Uwaaa?! W-What?”

I heard a metallic click in front of
me, in response to which I hurriedly glanced up.

“…S-Suzuka? What are you doing?”

What greeted me was the sight of Suzuka
holding a smartphone with a flushed face.

“W-What, you ask…? I just took a
picture. It’s practice in order to get used to this smartphone.”

A-Ahh, I see… So that’s what it
was.

It seems that while I was lost in
thought, Suzuka had decided on a phone.

“Don’t scare me like that… And if
you’re really going to practice taking photos, wouldn’t there be
more photogenic things to take photos of?”

“N-No, I wanted to take a photo of
Onii-chan anyway… F-Firstly, to make it my wallpaper..”

“Wallpaper? A picture of me?”

“Ah…! N-No, this is…! That’s
right! It’s just for research! The heroine in the novel also wants
to get a new smartphone, so that’s why this is perfect!”

…That’s right, she had depicted the
heroine as having a similar phone as hers…

Suzuka grabbed my hand and pulled me
out of the shop towards our home. As we made our way there, Suzuka
continued to make me pose in various locations, making sure to take
perfect photos every time. And it wasn’t just that…

“H-Hey, isn’t it fine already?”

“I-I still need more! This is all for
my research! Ehehehe…!” Suzuka said as we huddled together for a
selfie. She seemed nervous for some reason.

Even when I told her that it should
have been more than enough pictures already…

“T-That’s not true. On the
contrary, this is far from enough!”

“Far from enough…? You…”

“That’s right…! I’ve been
thinking this for a while, but our research has been lacking in
general! We have to do even more lovey-dovey research than before!”

“Ehh?! W-Why?! You said that you were
making good progress with your next volume, right?”

“That’s… a difference in
opinion!”

No no no?! I won’t be satisfied if
you just dismiss it like that, you know?!

“U-Uhm, I was thinking a lot… And I
realized that I can’t keep going on like this. At this rate,
Onii-chan will be taken away from—n-no forget about that! I think
that I’m still lacking, and I don’t want to disappoint the
readers like this!”

The normally relaxed and cool Suzuka
was currently panicking, trying her hardest to force out her words
while furiously gesticulating with
her hands.

“But, I don’t think that the
readers have lost any interest in your novel at all…”

“T-That’s not right! I can feel the
impending danger!” screamed Suzuka with flushed cheeks and tears in
her eyes.

U-Uh… I don’t really get it, but
Suzuka seems to be confident that she’s right. I mean, she is the
real Towano Chikai, so she should know it better than anyone. I
understand that much, and I can see why she wants to increase the
quality of her novel, so I want to help her as much as I can.

…But, you know…

I can’t forget about that rumour. And
speaking of said rumour, this is the perfect opportunity for me to
bring it up.

“I understand. If that’s the case,
then I will help you out as much as I can.”

“Really?!” …T-Thank you very
much…! W-We’ve been flirting for so long, but I’m looking
forward to it! Ehehehe…!”

“Well, I really wish you’d keep it
easy on me in that regard… But, since it’s for your novel, I
can’t help it. I’ll prepare myself.”

“I-Is that so! Ehe… Ehehe,
ehehehehehe.”

“However.”

“Eh?”

“Concerning the lovey-dovey research
at school, I think that we should stop it!”

Part 3:

Onii-chan looked like he had made up
his mind, as he made a fist with his hand as he continued.

“The reason why this rumour has been
going around school is because we’ve been doing that lovey-dovey
researching. If we were to stop that, then that rumour would
disappear sooner or later. This is the only choice we have, don’t
you think?!”

Though Onii-chan said that with an
upbeat tone, I could only stare at him blankly, with all the colour
draining from my face.

“…………………………………………………………………Eh?”
Unable to process the situation, I could only let out a dumbfounded
sound. “Eh… Ehh…? Ehhhhh? S-Stop our research… at school…?”

“It should be fine, right? If it’s
outside school, I’ll help you out with whatever research you want.”

N-No, wait… but that’s… He wants
us to stop being lovey-dovey at school…? D-Don’t tell me, the
person Onii-chan likes is at our school…? And he doesn’t want to
be seen being lovey-dovey with me…?!

“W-W-W-W-W-W-What is the meaning of
this, Onii-chan?!”

When I finally understood the meaning
of Onii-chan’s words, I found myself fiercely hemming him in.

W-What are you saying, Onii-chan?! This
research is exactly for the purpose of showing the person that
Onii-chan li—is interested in how close we are! At the same time, I
can show Onii-chan my charm! Flirting at school is an essential part
of the plan, you know! I-I swore to myself that I wouldn’t give up,
I swore that I would become even more lovey-dovey with Onii-chan, and
now he’s going to deny me that…! As if I could remain calm about
this!

“I-I mean, doing this at school would
be bad in a lot of ways, right…?”

“How exactly?! It’s a necessary
location for our research! Being seen by someone else is exactly what
it makes it so special and valuable…!”

“P-Please enact those situations in
your imagination. Whatever you say, I cannot allow this rumour to
gain any more traction, and I will try my best to stop it from
spreading.”

Weirdly enough, even when I brought up
my research, Onii-chan remained unmoved, and stayed grounded in his
stance.

S-So he really is being influenced by
the girl he li—he is interested in…!?! N-No, at times like these,
I have to think about this rationally. This is the one time in my
life where I have to use every brain cell at my disposal. In order to
not lose Onii-chan to another girl, in order to definitively marry
Onii-chan in the future, this is my most important battle…!

But in that moment, a certain word that
Onii-chan had said struck a nerve.

“…Rumour? What do you mean?”

That’s right, those words felt
weirdly out of place for me, and I asked Onii-chan about them.

“Ahh, you might not have realized it
yet—well, it’s not like I realized it, either. There’s a weird
rumour going around the school. Uhm, it’s about us siblings, you
know… having an abnormal relationship…” Onii-chan grimaced with
slightly flushed cheeks.

When I heard that, my body started
shaking. From happiness, of course.

W-What’s with this rumour…? This
is… the best thing ever!!! B-Basically, it looks like Onii-chan and
I are going out! We are lovers! A married couple! Soulmates! So
that’s how we look to everyone else at school?! I-I had no idea…!
Something… Something wonderful like this was happening behind my
back…?! Just what I would expect from Onii-chan’s high school!
All of the students are excellent!

…Ehehehe, ehehehehehehehehe. What is
this? Just because of one rumour, it feels like my plan has suddenly
become a great success. If we were to become even more lovey-dovey,
we might as well turn this into an established fact…! Ehe, ehehehe,
ehehehehehe…!

“We can’t just ignore that rumour,
right?”

Though I had entered the world of my
fantasies because of my happiness, Onii-chan’s voice called me back
to reality.

…T-This isn’t good! This flow of
events…!

“Is that so~? I-I don’t really mind
it at all~?”

‘Or rather, I’m actually really
thankful for it~?’—is something I really would have liked to add,
but that would have been too much.

“I mean, your heart’s pretty strong
after all, and you might not care about this rumour very much, but…”

“T-That’s exactly right. That’s
why there should be no problem at all…!”

“No, I can’t ignore it. I don’t
care if I turn out to be wrong about it, but I won’t ignore the
fact that you might suffer from this rumour. I cannot allow other
students to look at you with weird eyes…!”

“Eh…?”

‘N-No, that is actually exactly what
I am hoping for’—is what I wanted to say in order to convince
him, but I can’t. After all, I can clearly see how worried
Onii-chan is.

…Ahhh, those serious eyes… I can
even see myself reflected in them… I could feel those kind feelings
from Onii-chan radiating towards me, and I could feel tears starting
to build up in my eyes. Onii-chan was looking straight at me. He
looked so unbelievably cool that I felt like falling down to my knees
and proposing with “Please marry me!”

…W-What should I do about this?
Onii-chan is worried about me, and he wants to stop our research at
school just for my sake. However, I cannot allow that to happen. Why
did I even transfer schools if not for this? Not to mention that
stopping now would give the girl that Onii-chan li—is interested in
basically a free pass to get him.

“P-Please understand this, Suzuka.
It’s fine. We can do that research outside of school.”

T-This is very bad…! I-I have to find
a way to not hurt Onii-chan’s goodwill without stopping that rumour
from spreading…! But, is there really any way to do that? No, I
just have to figure it out no matter what. Onii-chan’s and my
lovey-dovey colored highschool life is on the line here! And even
more than that, our glorious future is on the line!

“……!”

I concentrated like I never had before,
and my brain started working at lightning speed. I don’t get this
serious even when I’m fantasizing.

“Ah…!!!”

And finally, I found it. The perfect
plan to achieve the most effective result! Am I a genius or
something?!

“I understand, Onii-chan…”

“I-Is that so, you understand… I’m
glad.”

After hearing my words, Onii-chan
looked relieved from the bottom of his heart. But I wasn’t quite
done yet. I confidently continued.

“…Basically, it’s fine as long as
people don’t get the wrong idea, right?”

Part 4:

“…………”

While I was walking towards school the
following day, I felt a bit awkward. That reason was of course
Suzuka, who was walking next to me. Yesterday when we were talking
about the rumour going around school, Suzuka said that the research
would no longer come across as suspicious to the other students. Even
when I asked what she meant, she just shrugged it off with “You’ll
understand tomorrow!” and such, so even when it was the day in
question, I had no clue what she was going to do. And, probably
because of that, Suzuka was also acting weird. Although she seemed
rather excited, she kept her distance from me.

…I don’t think that she’s in a
bad mood, but I can’t just ask her outright… Maybe she decided to
completely give up on doing research at school?

Now that I think about it, she would
always start clinging to my arm by this point, but…

“What’s wrong, Onii-chan?”

Today, she doesn’t look like she’s
planning on doing that at all. She was just walking normally next to
me.

…This feels a bit lonely…
—Wait, what am I thinking?! She’s just doing what I asked her
to do! Yeah!

Trying to force those weird thoughts
out of my head, I once again directed my thoughts to the rumour.
Suzuka’s words from yesterday had left me curious, but I’m glad
that I managed to satisfy her at the least.

“Ah, good morning, Suzuka. You’re a
bit late today.”

We were now relatively close to the
school, and coincidentally, we happened across Nikaido-san. Though
she glanced at me for a second, we weren’t doing anything dubious,
so she greeted me with a normal “Nagami-senpai too, good morning.”

“Good morning Kaede. Yes, you are
right, it took me a bit longer to get out of the house.”

She’s telling the truth. For whatever
reason, Suzuka’s preparations this morning had taken more time than
usual. This is really weird, since Suzuka isn’t the type to be
late.

“Ahh, good morning Kaede and
Suzu-chan.”

When the three of us started walking
next to each other, we also met up with one more friend of Suzuka’s,
Shiina-san.

…Now that I think about it, she calls
Suzuka “Suzu-chan.”

She has this grown-up attitude, and
you might even think that they’re siblings—is what I was
thinking when it happened.

“…Wha?!”

I suddenly felt a soft sensation on my
arm, and I turned around to identify the source.

“Ehehehehe…”

When I did, Suzuka had slightly flushed
cheeks with a teasing smile as he clung to my arm, trying to wrap
herself around it.

“W-What…?!”

Probably having heard my sudden
outburst, Nikaido-san turned around in surprise, while Shiina-san
reacted with a calm “What’s wrong?”

In that moment, Suzuka let go of my arm
before the other two saw her, and acted like nothing had happened.

“What’s wrong, Nagami-senpai?”

“N-No, uhm…”

…T-That’s what I want to know?!

When I glanced over at Suzuka, she had
a face like nothing had happened. In the meantime, Nikaido-san and
Shiina-san only looked at me in confusion before they turned around
and resumed walking.

“…!”

Of course, the very next moment, Suzuka
once more clung to my arm.

“…Y-You, what are doing?!” I
asked Suzuka in a quiet voice so that the other two couldn’t hear
us.

“…O-Of course it’s research. The
normal lovey-dovey events… However, we will do it in such a way
that nobody will realise it…!”

W-What did you say…?! I thought we
were going to stop doing the research at school…?!

While I was lost in confusion, Suzuka
suddenly brought her face closer to mine and softly blew into my ear.

“Uhyaaa?!”

I couldn’t hold back that shriek, and
in response the other two turned around again. Of course, in the
meantime Suzuka had already returned her normal position.

“…What’s wrong with you, Senpai?
Why did you suddenly scream like that?”

“Ufufufu, Suzu-chan’s older brother
is such a jokester.”

Nikaido-san was making fun of me, and
Shiina-san only smiled at me.

…S-Suzuka, you…! Blowing into my
ears… what are you thinking?!

After making sure that the other two
had turned around once more, Suzuka talked to me in a quiet voice.

“…I-I told you, this is for
research. Yesterday, I said that it’s fine if they don’t see us
after all…!”

Apparently that action just now was
embarrassing even for her, because she averted her eyes and looked
down with a red face.

“…So this is…?”

“…T-That’s right. If you’re
worried about the rumour, then we just have to do our research when
no one can see us…! The name for this research is ‘Hidden
lovey-dovey operation’…!”

H-Hidden lovey-dovey operation?!

“…W-With this, we can be
lovey-dovey while still being at school, and it feels like a
forbidden relationship, so it makes my heart pound faster—no,
excuse me…! This is all to achieve a higher quality in my
writing…!”

With those words, she wore a triumphant
look on her face, her cheeks still red.

…No, but… that’s… Ehh?

I was so troubled by that plan that I
didn’t know how to respond at all. But it was even more troublesome
since I understood exactly where she was coming from.

…But, is this really possible?!

“W-What are you acting all shocked
for? Like this, we can dispel Onii-chan’s worries. And also, I will
be able to direct Onii-chan’s attention towards me so that he will
eventually forget about the person he li—is interested in…!”

“My attention… to what?”

“Ah?! I-It’s nothing…! A-Anyways,
we will do our research like this, so there shouldn’t be any reason
for Onii-chan to complain, right?!”

After finishing her statement, Suzuka
once more clung to me. Though it might not be much, I could feel her
softness on my arm as evidence that she’s grown, making me
straighten my back in surprise. I almost let out another shriek, but
I barely managed to hold myself back.

…T-That was close…! The other two
would have turned around again…! But wait, doesn’t this mean…?

From what I understand, Suzuka plans to
do this lovey-dovey stuff whenever nobody is looking at us. And that
will surely happen out of the blue like right now. Fair enough. After
all, you never know when you will get a chance, and she wouldn’t
have the time to tell me “Here we go!” upfront.

…So basically, I will be the victim
of spontaneous research, and I have to make sure that I don’t let
out a shriek like just now…?!

When I realized that, I hurriedly
turned over to look at Suzuka.

“Ehehehehehehehehehehehehe…”

However, Suzuka was now completely in
research mode, and she just let out a weird laugh, completely
ignoring my stare.

Hey! You’re the crucial part of this
plan! What are we going to do if you space out?! And, isn’t the
hurdle for this research a bit too high?! This research is even more
extreme than before, and you think that we would be able to hide this
from being seen?!

“I see. Suzuka, what do you think
about Kotomi’s story?”

In that moment, Nikaido-san, who was in
the middle of talking with Shiina-san, suddenly turned around. In the
same second, Suzuka hurriedly separated from me, and I took a step
away.

“Dowa?!”

“…You seem to be excited for some
reason, Nagami-senpai,” Nikaido-san said, to which I responded with
a bitter smile.

…Damn it, that was way too close…!

“Oh? Suzu-chan, your face is a bit
red. Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes, everything is okay. Thanks
for worrying about me, Kotomi.”

Apparently she couldn’t erase her
expression fully in time either.

Are we really going to continue this
all the time during school?—I thought, but I realized that
Suzuka was glancing at me, letting out a small giggle.

…Uuu… she’s totally going to
continue this… Ahh, for crying out loud! I’ll do it, okay?! I’m
your stand-in, so I’ll help you as best as I can! And I can achieve
that by making sure that no one sees us!

“…………”

While I was gazing up at the sky in
resignation, Nikaido-san glared at me with a suspicious gaze.

…And here we are.

A lot of things happened after that,
and I’ll spare you the details, but there’s one thing that I want
to make clear.

………I-I’m so tired…!

My only saving grace, and I never
thought that I would say this, was class. After all, Suzuka couldn’t
do anything during that time. But she more than made up for it during
breaks. She would occasionally come over to our classroom, call out
for me, and be lovey-dovey…

The contents of said acting were
escalating by the second, and instead of hugging my arm, she started
hugging me from behind, putting her hands around my neck, or telling
me to hug her myself… Trying to hide all of that really was hard.
There was one time that I had to hide us hugging by turning my back
to the other students.

“…Suzuka having such a small
stature is really a saving grace,” I said then, only to be glared
at by the person in question. Really, having to be on guard for the
stalking Mai and Suzuka’s clingy friends was quite a lot of
trouble. Especially since one of them was Nikaido-san…

That’s why I was close to collapsing
when it was finally time for lunch break.

Like always, I went to eat lunch
together with Suzuka, so I made my way towards the lounge. And the
moment I arrived, Suzuka blurted out those words.

“T-The next stage…?”

It sounded really bad already, but I
had no other option than to ask her about it.

“I think that we are hiding our
lovey-dovey actions—I-I mean, our research pretty skillfully, but
there’s another situation I really want to try out.”

“Another situation?”

“It’s not all that different. It’s
more like we’ll act the same, but with an extra condition…!”
She said that and started rummaging around inside of her bag.

“T-This is it,” She finally said
and stopped rummaging.

While I looked on, she pulled out the
object, and it finally entered my line of sight.

“Bfuuuu?!” Upon seeing it, I almost
choked.

“W-Why do you have handcuffs with
you…?!”

This is the most random item in such a
random place! Why… did she bring those to school…?!

“C-Calm down, Onii-chan. This is just
a prop for our research.”

What kind of research requires these?!

Seeing my shocked reaction, Suzuka’s
face turned red.

“If we put these on, we cannot
separate even by force. This means that we can be as close as we
want, and we won’t have to hide it in an emergency. So that’s why
we’re going to continue our hidden lovey-dovey operation with
these.”

“…You’re intentionally raising
the bar, you know?”

“T-That’s right. That’s exactly
what I’m aiming for. On top of trying not to be seen by anyone
else, we have this additional hurdle, which should result in even
more lovey-dovey events.”

…Seriously.

“You’re not really wrong about
that, but why handcuffs…?”

“T-To write an even better novel, I
need to get even better data from my research. And in order to
achieve that, I will need more realism.”

Hmm… I’m not completely satisfied,
but if the real Towano Chikai says so, I can’t argue with her about
it. After all, Suzuka continues to make every volume more interesting
than the last, so there’s not much I can say…

“…A-Also, since you’ll be at a
distance where you want to get away but can’t, Onii-chan will have
no other option but to be aware of me…! Just like my head is always
full of Onii-chan, Onii-chan’s brain will only be full of me…!”

“But, Suzuka?”

“Hyaaa?! W-W-W-What is it?!”

“What if, in a one-in-a-million
chance, someone were to see us using these handcuffs…?”

“W-We just have to be even more
careful! A-And also, we will only be using them during this lunch
break, so something this simple shouldn’t be too hard! A-Any more
than that, and I wouldn’t be able to bear it either!” Suzuka
said. In response, I crossed my arms and started thinking.

…Hm… If it’s just during lunch
break, it might work out…?

It won’t be any longer than an hour,
and it’ll be over as soon as we’re done eating. And since Suzuka
is so serious about this, she probably wouldn’t be satisfied if I
simply said no. She’d demand some kind of explanation.

…I guess it can’t be helped. As a
fan of her novel, as her stand-in, and as her older brother, I can’t
decline my little sister’s wish.

“T-Thank you very much! T-T-T-Then,
let’s hurry…!”

When I accepted, Suzuka’s face turned
a vivid red, and her hands were shaking furiously as she put the
handcuffs around her wrist and mine. With a metallic clack, we were
now connected. Having become aware of that fact, embarrassment filled
my body, and I could feel my own cheeks getting hotter.

“T-This…! This really feels like
we’re doing something that we shouldn’t…!”

“D-D-D-D-Doing something like this
with Onii-chan at school…!”

“C-C-C-C-Calm down Suzuka…! We have
to hide this..!”

“I—I belong to Onii-chan…! Our
destinies are intertwined…!”

“S-Suzuka-san?! Return to your
senses! This isn’t the time to space out!”

While I called out to Suzuka, I tried
to calm myself down, too.

…This is even worse than I had
imagined. We’re siblings, and we’re tying each other up with
handcuffs during lunch break. There’s no way we could talk our way
out of this if we got caught. At all costs, we definitely have to
keep this a secret…!

In order to hide the handcuffs, we
brought our bodies as close to each other as possible and put a
handkerchief on top of them in case someone suddenly approached.

“…T-This is even more exciting than
I thought it would be. W-Well, that’s exactly what makes it so good
for research, though… Ehehehehehe…”

Suzuka’s emotional strength really is
on a different level than mine. To think that she would be able to
keep the research in mind at a time like this…

That being said, I also started to calm
down, bit by bit. Hiding it like this should be fine after all.

“But why you even have these
handcuffs…?”

“D-Double Peace-san left them at our
house. They aren’t mine.”

Well, that’s what I had expected.
That girl really loves to bring cosplay costumes and other
eroge-related things to our house, after all. Though she always says
that she’s just careless, she probably leaves them there on
purpose. Though I don’t know why.

“…Haah, well, whatever. Let’s
just eat our bento then. It would seem weird if we just sat here.”

“T-That’s right.”

Taking out our bentos (which were made
by Suzuka, of course), we put them on the table. If we were to just
spend our lunch break like this, surely nothing bad would happen. And
if I took my time eating, Suzuka wouldn’t think of doing anything
bad.

—And just when I went to open the lid
of my bento.

“Ahh, it’s Yuu and Suzuka-san. This
seat seems to be open, so I’ll be taking it.”

“Eh? M-Mai?”

Suddenly, Mai came walking towards us,
planted her butt on the seat opposite from mine, and put down a
plastic bottle filled with milk tea and a sandwich wrapped in plastic
paper from the convenience store on the table. This is how she
sometimes eats lunch with me. Normally, like a proper stalker, she
would just sit a few seats away from me, constantly staring at me
while I was eating lunch. She’s been doing that since our first
year, even after Suzuka transferred here, and she hasn’t changed
her ways at all.

…No, sometimes I feel like she’s
been eating with us more often? Whatever her reason is, I didn’t
really have the time to think about it right now.

“…H-Himuro-san, and with timing
like this…!” Suzuka muttered.

Yes, just as Suzuka said, Mai couldn’t
have had worse timing. If she finds out about the handcuffs, she
would without a doubt cause enough trouble to forcefully get us in
the worst kind of trouble. We have to keep this a secret from her no
matter what…!

“What’s wrong with you two? Are you
not going to eat?” Mai asked while unwrapping her sandwich. Both
Suzuka and I twitched in shock.

…T-This isn’t good. W-We can’t
allow ourselves to act weirdly right now or she’ll get suspicious
of us!

“N-No, we were about to start
eating,” said Suzuka as she picked up her chopsticks with her right
hand.

Seeing that, I also opened the lid of
my bento box, and was about to pick up my chopsticks with my free
left… hand…?

“Huh? Why do you have the chopsticks
in your left hand, Yuu? Your right hand is your dominant one, right?”

Listening to Mai’s statement that
only a true stalker could make, I froze up.

…That’s riiiiiiiiight! I totally
forgot about thaaaaaaaaaat!!!

Now that my right hand is connected to
Suzuka’s left one, I have no other option but to use my left hand!

“I-I-I-I-I
can’t help it, so I’ll be so kind as to feed you myself! H-Here,
open wide!”

Picking
up a side dish from my lunch, she held out her hand towards me.

“H-H-H-Himuro-san?!
W-What are you—?!”

“L-Like
I said, I will feed Yuu since he’s having problems with his left
hand! Now, open wide!” She urged me again.

Of
course, I opened my mouth to decline her offer, but Mai used that
opportunity to stuff the food into my mouth.

“Mugu?!
………Y-You…!”

“Ehehehe~
How is it? Is it delicious?”

Mai
looked awfully cute while holding a hand to her slightly flushed
cheeks, so I could only nod in silence… I think that my face also
turned a bit red.

“T-Thank
you—Ouch?!”

In
that moment, I felt a sharp pain on my thigh, and when I looked over
at the most likely source, Suzuka was glaring at me.

“Y-You
seem to be quite happy, even though this is supposed to be research,
Onii-chan…!”

“N-No,
it’s not like that, but…!”

“Himuro-san,
I’m sorry, but as his little sister, I will be the one to take up
that duty!”

Suzuka
used her own chopsticks to pick up some food, and pushed it towards
my mouth, but…

“…W-Wait!
If you do that, it really will look like we’re lovey-dovey!
Wouldn’t that completely defeat the purpose of this…?!”

“Ah?!
B-But, allowing Himuro-san to be lovey-dovey instead is also…!”

“…I-I
know! Ahh, Mai, uhm, I’m happy that you want to help me, but I
don’t want to bother you, so I’ll try to eat with my left hand.”

“Eh?
I-It’s not like you have to hold back or anything, you know? I-I’m
your number one fan after all, right?! S-Something like this should
be totally normal, right?!”

“N-No,
this is just the result of me overdoing it. It’s also important
data for me to do experience this for myself.”

I
really had no idea what sort of nonsense I was saying, but Mai seemed
to be satisfied. She replied with “If that’s Towano Chikai’s
way of doing it, then I can’t help it,” and returned my
chopsticks.

…She
really is a good girl. If only she weren’t a stalker…

“O-Onii-chan,
is it really fine for you to eat without any help?”

While
Suzuka said that with an apologetic tone, I started eating my lunch.
And, just when I thought that we had averted the crisis…

“Ah.”

Mai
had just opened her bottle, but she lost grip on the lid, and it fell
to the ground. It rolled across the ground away from Mai and stopped
behind my back.

“Sorry
Yuu, but can you pick that up for me?”

Having
no other choice, I stretched out my hand towards the lid, but…

Rattle!

That
moment that sound rang out, my body stopped moving.

“Hm?
What was that sound? It looked like Suzuka-san’s body moved for a
second?”

…N-Now
I’ve done it… I moved without thinking…!

Still
with my hand stretched out, I froze up. But it was already too late.
If I were to return back to my original position now, Mai would
definitely think that something’s up.

“What’s
wrong, Yuu? You froze up in a weird position.”

…I-I
don’t have the time to space out like this…!

At
a loss for what I should do, I helplessly looked at Suzuka. When I
did, Suzuka seemed to understand my nonverbal communication, and she
returned a slight nod.

“Huh?
Why is Suzuka-san suddenly sitting on Yuu’s seat?”

“T-There’s
no deeper meaning to it! I just wanted to change seats that’s all…!
Isn’t that right, Onii-chan?!”

“Y-Yeah.
I also felt that way!”

In
order to give me more space to work with, Suzuka took a seat on the
chair that I had been occupying a second ago.

But
even so, I couldn’t quite reach it. Even though it was just a bit…!
Come on, sudden growth spurt of my arms, don’t fail me now…!

“…Suzuka-san,
why is your body leaning sideways like that?”

“I-I
just felt like stretching for a bit!”

Apparently
Suzuka was trying to give me those few extra centimeters I need in
order to reach the lid.

But,
because I suddenly straightened my posture back to normal—

“Kya…?!”

Losing
her balance while also being pulled by my arm, I could see Suzuka
falling towards me.

“Careful!”

Though
I tried my best to support her body, we both fell into the floor.
Thankfully I managed to catch Suzuka with my arms, so she didn’t
hit the floor as hard as I did.

“H-Hey,
are you two okay?!”

Mai
jumped up in surprise and came towards us.

Yeah,
we’re okay—is
what I was about to answer when I realized.

…T-This
isn’t good! She’ll be able to see the handcuffs…!

Though
I tried to move my right hand, it wouldn’t move at all. I glanced
down to look, and my right hand and Suzuka’s left hand were both
hidden between our bodies, luckily hidden from view from everyone
around us.

…T-Thank
God. Suzuka probably took that position in the heat of the moment.

Realizing
that we had narrowly averted such grave danger, I let out a sigh of
relief. And finally, I realized that my right hand was holding onto
something soft and spongy.

…Hmm?
What’s this? My right hand should be between our bodies—

“O-Onii-chan…!”

In
the next moment, I heard Suzuka’s teary voice, which sent a shiver
down my spine. When I looked down, I saw Suzuka glaring at me with
tears in her eyes and with her face as red a cherry.

…Wait?
Don’t tell me, this soft feeling is… her breast?

“Uuuu…Uuuuu…!!!”

Suzuka
tried her best to hold back a scream, and I was assaulted with
feelings of both guilt and embarrassment.

“Kyaa?!
W-What are you doing, Yuu?!”

Trying
to hide my shame, I quickly helped Suzuka get up and hurriedly
grabbed the bento boxes.

“W-W-W-We’ll
be excusing ourselves!”

Saying
that, we ran away from that place, leaving Mai behind.

“…Haaah…
Haaah… that was horrible…”

After
reaching a place inside the school building without any people
around, I put my hands on my thighs, taking deep breaths.

“M-My
breast… was touched… by Onii-chan…! Uuuu…!”

Suzuka
slid down to the floor while resting her back on the wall. Of course,
those accursed handcuffs were still connecting both of our hands.

“Haaah…
even if this is research, handcuffs are a bit over-the-top, you
know?”

When
I lifted my right hand a little, the handcuffs made a metallic sound.

“T-That’s
right… Though it certainly isn’t bad as far as research is
concerned, the impact is stronger than I had anticipated. It would
probably be best to halt this research.”

Weirdly
enough, Suzuka also agreed with me.

…Well,
I can’t blame her after what just happened… But let’s not think
about that anymore. “We’ll do this research at home then,” she
whispered at the end of that.

“A-And
also… Um… there is another big problem right now…”

While
I was thinking that, Suzuka started fidgeting.

“What
big problem?”

“U-Um…
like I said…! T-The bathroom…!”

…………Ah.
I-I see, so she was fidgeting because of that… T-That really is a
big problem!

“T-Then,
hurry up and go. I’ll take off the handcuffs, so give me the keys.”

“Y-Yes,
they are right—”

Suzuka
put a hand into her bag.

“Oh,
Suzuka and Nagami-senpai? What are you doing in a place like this?”

“……!”
“……!”

A
voice suddenly called out to us, and we both twitched in surprise.
Because of this, Suzuka’s hand hit my own—

“Ahhhh?!”

And
just like that, the key to the handcuffs gracefully flew out of the
window and down into the flowerbed below.

“Ah!
What’s wrong?”

Of
course, both of us were leaning out the window, watching this
unfortunate event happen, but those words called us back to reality.
Of course, we quickly hid the handcuffs behind our backs.

“Kaede
and Kotomi?! W-What are you doing in a place like this?!”

Standing
there were Nikaido-san and Shiina-san. Both of them looked surprised
and were staring at Suzuka.

“We
were just heading to the clubroom building.”

…Oh,
right, I totally forgot about that.

“So
what about Suzu-chan and Onii-san? You look like you’re panicking
about something.”

“N-No?!
T-T-T-T-That certainly isn’t the case?! R-Right, Onii-chan?!”

“Y-Yeah,
you’re right. W-We were just strolling around a bit?!”

“…You’re
spending lunch break together and not doing anything special at all?”
Nikaido-san looked at me with eyes full of disbelief.

“W-We
were talking about what we should make for dinner today. S-Since
there are a lot of things that Onii-chan likes and dislikes, I have
to ask him beforehand if he is okay with it! Right, Onii-chan?”

“Y-Yeah.
I know~ I’m really sorry for bothering you this much~”

Though
my acting was awful, I had no other choice but to play along with
Suzuka. By the way, I’m not really that picky about food, since
Suzuka had always told me that I should eat everything on my plate.

“Fufufufu,
you two really are close.”

“…………”

Though
Shiina-san giggled with one hand on her cheek, Nikaido-san only
continued to glare at me.

“R-Rather
than that,” I said, “don’t you two have a meeting or something
like that? Shouldn’t you hurry to that? Lunch break is going to end
pretty soon.”

“Ah,
that’s right. Come on, let’s go, Kaede.”

“…………Yeah.”

Like
that, we had managed to get ourselves out of yet another predicament.
Somehow. Though Nikaido-san continued to glare at me with a
suspicious gaze, I didn’t have the leisure to care about that. When
both of them rounded a corner and disappeared completely, both Suzuka
and I let out a sigh of relief.

“…Wait,
this isn’t the time to be relaxing like this!”

“T-That’s
right! We have to hurry up and get the key to the handcuffs…!”

Both
of us quickly got up and started running towards the flower bed. We
ran down the stairs, through a hallway with no one around, and after
making sure that nobody was looking, we started searching through the
flowerbed for the key.

“Ahhh!
Where did it go?!”

“Uuuu…
W-We have to hurry…!”

However,
we couldn’t find it. The only things that we could find were
flowers of various colours.

“Auuuuu…!”

And
in the meantime, Suzuka’s fidgeting grew more intense. She seemed
to be close to her limit, and tears were starting to form in the
corners of her eyes.

Yes,
that’s exactly the problem right now. Now that we’re connected by
these handcuffs, we can’t separate far enough for her to be able to
calmly finish her business. Not to mention that I can’t force
Suzuka into the men’s toilet. If, in a one-in-a-million chance, a
boy came by and saw Suzuka, I don’t even know what would happen.
The only thing I knew for sure was that I couldn’t allow Suzuka’s
image to be sullied in any way.

Then…
what about somewhere in the shadows, in the grass where no one can
see her…?

“I-I
would rather bite my tongue and die…!”

—Suzuka
replied after I made such a suggestion, glaring at me with tears in
her eyes.

…Well,
that makes sense, I guess. And there’s no way that I could actually
force Suzka to do something like that… So, the only option left
is…!

“……”

“……”

We
were wrapped in an awkward silence. Of course, we both knew the only
option left.

“Ahhh…
Suzuka.”

That
being said, we couldn’t keep quiet forever, so I decided to take
one for team.

“O-Onii-chan…!”

However,
maybe sensing what I was about to say, Suzuka opened her mouth.

That
must have been the fifth time she had said that as her bright red
face peeked through the opened door. I only gave a half-assed “I
know…”, as I pushed some paper into my ears, cutting off the
sound as best as I could.

—And
I don’t think that there’s any need to explain where our current
location was.

…It
was the girl’s toilet… And I was crouching in front of it. Ahhh,
I want to die…! What was I doing here…? No, you don’t need to
yell at me. I know. We couldn’t get the handcuffs off, and since
that she couldn’t hold it in anymore, we only had this option left…
But this is way too harsh!

The
chain on the handcuffs was way too short, so I basically had to push
my arm into the stall. There was no chance of hiding quickly enough
if anyone were to enter. I really felt like a total pervert.

…Well,
we really didn’t have any other way, so there’s no use grumbling
about it.

So,
as her older brother, I swallowed my almost nonexistent pride, all
for Suzuka’s sake.

And
I don’t regret that decision.

…But
things still are tough…

“Ugh…”

Since
I couldn’t do anything in this situation, I decided to keep wary
and watch the entrance of the toilet, standing by in case anyone were
to enter. Luckily, we were pretty far from the classrooms, and only
the chemistry preparation room and materials room were close to here,
so the chance that anyone besides Suzuka would use this toilet was
rather slim.

…Still,
whatever the odds of it happening, in the worst case scenario my life
would be over the instant anyone were to come in here.

That’s
why I had no other chance but to pray that Suzuka finishes her
business as fast as she could.

“……………?!”

Then,
I heard a certain sound.

…I
have earplugs in, but this sounds like… water? Wait wait wait
wait?! D-D-D-D-Don’t tell me that’s…?! …Yeah, it could only
be one thing in this situation. There’s no mistake, this is—

“~~~~~~~~~!!!”

I
somehow managed to hold back my voice from leaking out.

…W-What the hell am I imagining?! I thought that you wanted to protect Suzuka’s dignity, so what the hell was that abouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttt?!

“
…… ‘Purple lighting that pierces the darkness… Punish those
who have stained the heavens! [Judgement Thunder]!’ … ‘You, who
shall not walk on the heathens, return to nothingness! [Banish
Death]!’ … ‘The one who banishes logic and reason, fall into
the sky! [Gravity Lapse]!’……”

Trying
my best to focus on my own thoughts, I recited quotes that I liked
from SukaMaga. While trying to drown out that water sound, I also
muttered them out loud. And just when I had finally run out of
material to quote…

“…Nnnn?
Huh…?”

I
raised my head and looked towards the sink. Drops of water were
falling from the faucet…

“So
that’s what it was!”

Having
found the source of the sound, I subconsciously spoke out loud.

“Uwaaa?!”

And
suddenly, I felt something tap my shoulder. I felt my heart stop.

“…O-Onii-chan,
calm down. It’s me, Suzuka.”

However,
when I turned around, I saw Suzuka. Apparently she had finished her
business, and had left the stall without me realizing it.

“…It’s
you…! Thank God…! In a lot of ways…!”

“…I-I
troubled you so much with this…! I’m so sorry…!”

“Ahhh,
it’s fine, it’s fine… Let’s just hurry up and leave, and
search for the keys again… Lunch break will be over soon,” I
said, as I pulled the makeshift tissue earplugs out of my ears.

Suzuka
nodded in response, and we were about to step out of the bathroom
when it happened.

“…You’re
right~” “I know, right?”

Both
of us froze.

…D-Did
I just hear voices? Two girls… and it sounds like they’re coming
closer…?!

“O-Onii-chan…!”

It
seemed that my ears hadn’t failed me, because Suzuka was also
starting to panic. She suddenly grabbed my hand tightly, and I felt
the sweat on her hand.

“…Having
to clean up the materials room, huh?” “Right~? What bad luck.”

This
time I heard them clearly! And they’re definitely coming this way!
…T-This is bad! Their destination surely is the girls toilet!
They’re about to come in, aren’t they?! I-I have to hide
somewhere!

Well,
in this situation, there’s actually only one place to hide, but
since this was a rather unimaginable predicament for a boy like me, I
hesitated.

“…Onii-chan!”

But
Suzuka reacted faster than me. She pushed me into the stall and
locked the door. At the same time, the girls entered.

“………!”

“Pssst…
Stay quiet, please!”

Inside
the small stall, Suzuka and I were looking at each other, with our
bodies as close as they could get. With a red face, Suzuka put her
hand over my mouth, and I could only nod in response.

…Uwaaaa!
I’m being forcefully kept quiet like this in a girl’s bathroom
stall by my little sister. What kind of pervert am I…?!

T-This
is where Suzuka just—I
forcefully stopped my thoughts mid-way. And this shouldn’t be
anything weird, since Suzuka and I live under the same roof, but I
still couldn’t help but be conscious of it.

“Huh?
What was that sound?” “It seems like someone was in here
already.”

From
across the door, I could hear the girls holding a conversation about
toilet ghosts or whatever, but I didn’t bother paying any
attention.

…Ahhh,
will you hurry up and leave already…! T-This is bad in a lot of
ways…! I-In a whole lot of ways! I won’t be able to stand this
situation for much longer…!

Apparently,
it wasn’t just me who felt that way, since Suzuka’s face right in
front of me was so red that it was close to exploding. Tears were
starting to form in her eyes… P-Please put up with it for just a
little longer, Suzuka…!

Finally,
after a few minutes—which felt like a whole hour—the girls
finally left, and we safely managed to escape.

“P-P-P-P-Please
forget about that…! Or rather, erase it from your memories…! I-I
will have to remember it though for my research…!” Suzuka said
with a shaking voice while hurrying down the hallway. Just as she had
said, I decided to lock those memories away in a folder labelled
‘Dark past’, and vowed to never look through them again.

…Really,
I don’t want to remember that again.

By
the way, immediately after that, we found the keys to the handcuffs.
They were sitting out in a really obvious open patch of the flower
bed. Humans really fail at the most basic of things when they’re
under pressure.

Part
5:

“…I-I’m
so tired…”

All
of the classes for the day had ended, and I had just gotten out of
the last period, homeroom. I rested my head on my desk.

…What
a horrible day, really…

“Why
are you so tired? Is it because you didn’t eat anything during
lunch?” While saying this, Mai came over to me, but I didn’t feel
like responding to her in the slightest. “W-Well, you have to take
care of your body, okay? I’m gonna go ahead, since my deadline is
right around the corner. I’ll have you help me with my research
next time, okay?”

After
making her selfish demands, Mai left the classroom. I sighed, lifted
up my tired body, and stepped out of the classroom as well.

“Ah,
Onii-chan.”

When
I did, I encountered Suzuka. It seems she came here to meet me.

“I’m
sorry, but can you go home alone for today?” She asked.

“You
came all the way here just to tell me that? An email would’ve been
enough… Well, I have work today, so I don’t mind. Are you taking
a detour somewhere?”

“No,
that’s not it. I’m going to watch the theater club.”

“Theater
club?”

“Yes,
actually, Kotomi is a member of the theater club, so she asked me if
I wanted to come watch her.”

“Ohh,
I see. Do you have any interest in that?”

“No,
not necessarily—rather I’m interested in the costumes. Especially
the ones made for men.”

“…F-For
men…? D-Don’t tell me; you have that
kind of hobby…?”

“Wha—?!
Y-You’re wrong! It’s not that! It’s just for my research!”

“Research?”
I asked, and Suzuka continued.

“Since
we’re not allowed to openly flirt with each other, I thought that I
could wear male clothes! That way, even if we were spotted, they
wouldn’t realize that it’s me! It’s perfect!”

“You
really don’t care what other people think about me, do you?!”

You’re
saying that it would be fine if other students saw me being
lovey-dovey with another dude?! Are you a demon?! I would take a lot
of mental damage from that!

“A-Anyway,
I might come up with a new idea for my research, so I’m going to go
check out the theater club! I’ll be back before curfew!” Leaving
those words behind, she turned on her heels and walked away.

…A
new idea for her research, huh…? She’s still going even after all
that happened during lunch break…? My little sister really is a
tough one.

“Well,
whatever. It’s fine for her to spend the afternoon with her
friends.”

Saying
that like I actually had friends of my own, I went on my way alone,
which hadn’t been the case for quite a long time. But the moment I
stepped out of the school building, someone called out to me.

“Nagami-senpai!
Can I spare a bit of your time?”

It
was Nikaido-san. As always, she had a rather dignified posture, and
she looked straight at me.

…W-What
is it?

Since
I didn’t have any reason to decline, I nodded in response and
followed her to the back side of the school building.

…W-Why
is she leading me to a place where no one can see us…?

“If
I may be blunt, I have something that I want to talk about.”

“W-What
might that be?”

When
I unconsciously responded in formal language…

“…Nagami-senpai,
there really isn’t anything impure going on between you and Suzuka,
is there?”

She
asked me the same question as before.

“I
told you that it’s not like that. I said that I had a person I
like, which was why I would never lay a finger on my little sister.
You were satisfied with that the other day.”

“…It’s
true that I was satisfied at first, but my doubts haven’t
disappeared.”

“W-What
kind of basis do you have for accusing me?”

“Intuition,
mostly.”

…That’s
like completely subjective, though!

“Though
I have no proof for it, I grew up by following the way of the sword,
so I have a sort of sense for those sorts of presences. But it’s
not just that. You two were definitely acting suspicious on the way
to school this morning and during lunch break.”

Ugh…
I can’t deny that… We were definitely acting weird.

“And
also, when Suzuka is close to Nagami-senpai, she seems almost like a
different person. Normally, she looks like a prideful knight to me,
but when she’s around you, it looks like she can’t calm down for
some reason.”

“Uhm…
well, how do I put it… We’re family, so she lets down her guard
around me? Isn’t that something normal? And why are you even
doubting me this much without any proof?”

“…That’s
right. What piqued my interest the most was that I heard that
Nagami-senpai was an otaku.”

Otaku…?
Didn’t she bring that up before as well…?

“Uhm,
I don’t really understand every single detail, but is there
something wrong with being an otaku?”

“Otakus
have the tendency to get lost in their indecent desires… A-And I’ve
heard that they often fantasize about their little sisters. That’s
why I think that my doubt is reasonable.”

“E-Eh?
No…? What in the world do you think otaku culture is about?”

“……Wicked
things. Suspicious, indecent things. Harmful… things…”

Though
I was a bit irritated by her speaking ill about something that I had
devoted my life to, namely writing light novels, this wasn’t the
time to get angry at her.

…So
because she has the wrong image of otakus, she projected that image
onto me?

“Now
listen, otakus aren’t the monsters that you make them out to be.
That’s nothing more than personal bias.”

“…However,
that is my cognition. And that will not sway,” Nikaido-san said.
She showed me a bitter expression for some reason.

But,
when I was about to respond and try to convince her otherwise…

“I
will take my leave here for today. Just know that I am worried about
Suzuka because I am her friend. And I would like Nagami-senpai to
help alleviate those fears.”

“Ah,
hey?”

Without
showing any signs of stopping, Nikaido-san just left me behind,
saying “If you would excuse me,” as she walked away.

“…What’s
up with that?”

After
she left me alone, I wracked my brain on what to do. Seeing
Nikaido-san worry for Suzuka’s sake makes me really happy, of
course, but I want her doubts to be cleared up as soon as possible.
However, her doubts are apparently connected to me being an otaku, so
I have no idea how to achieve that. Maybe I should get even closer to
Suzuka? Or maybe I should show Nikaido-san that I’m not actually an
otaku at all?

“No,
that’s probably impossible. It’s true after all.”

…I
mean, I could just ignore her. She’s just doubting us due to silly
reasons.

“But
I don’t want her friendship with Suzuka to suffer as a result of
it…”

…And
also, that rumour still remains a problem. Even if we keep up our
hidden flirting research, it’s of no use if Nikaido-san, a person
close to Suzuka, still doubts us. As long as there’s anything still
smouldering, this fire will never go out.

“Still…
how can I clear up this misunderstanding?”

No
matter how hard I pondered this question, I couldn’t come up with
an answer. I decided to leave and head to my part-time job.

“Nnn~?
Nagamin doesn’t seem so energetic today~”

Esaka-san
greeted me with her usual lax attitude, but since I was still
distracted by the incident with Nikaido-san, I didn’t pay much
attention to her.

“…What
can be done to clear up a bias against otaku culture…?”

Even
while sitting at the register, I had my arms crossed, and was deep in
thought.

“Hmm…”

It
happened while I was spacing out.

“U-Um,
this please…”

A
book suddenly appeared in front of me, and I realized that a customer
was standing in front of me.

…Oh,
oops. I shouldn’t trouble the shop with my attitude…!

Thinking
that, I raised my head.

“Ah?”

But
in that moment, my eyes opened wide.

“Nikaido-san…?”

“Eh?
Ah, Nagami-senpai?!”

After
all, the person standing there was Nikaido-san, and when she realized
that it was me, she dropped the book on the table out of shock.

“……Eh?”

And
when I saw the cover of that book, all the words that I wanted to say
were immediately taken from me.